Adelson, who controls the world’s biggest casino company by market value, also outlined his objections to online gambling in an opinion piece in Forbes yesterday. The Internet betting option is gaining momentum as U.S. states seek to tax a business forecast to generate billions of dollars. In February,New Jersey became the most-populous U.S. state to legalize online gambling, following Nevada and Delaware.

“Younger people, people who can’t afford it, can gamble while they’re on a subway or a bus or a passenger in a car, or while they’re lying in bed in their birthday suits on their smartphone or on their iPad,” Adelson said. “What is the purpose of putting a casino on everybody’s kitchen table?”

The fact that online gaming is a serious competitor to Adelson’s bread and butter, of course, has nothing to do with the position that he’s taking.

About Doug MataconisDoug holds a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May, 2010 and also writes at Below The Beltway.
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While the article is blatantly self-serving, it should be noted that Adelson does not actually say he’s “morally opposed” to online gambling, so it’s not quite as hypocritical as the Bloomberg article’s apparently fabricated quote suggests.

Except it’s not an exact quote. I was thinking about posting something about the article on another forum and I wanted to get a larger quote, so I went to the Forbes article and did a text search. He never writes “morally”, “moral”, or any close variation of the word. The closest thing in the actual piece is a bit where Adelson says he’s “adamantly opposed”.

So then I though, “Well, maybe the quote is from someplace else and Bloomberg just did a bad job sourcing it”. So I googled “Adelson morally opposed”. The only places that comes up is the Bloomberg article or places quoting the Bloomberg article.

So as I said, it appears Bloomberg made up that quote, which appears unnecessary since Adelson’s op-ed is bad enough without embellishing it with imaginary quotes.

@al-Ameda: Online gambling opens up gambling to people who can’t afford it, just as State Lotteries do. It’s very disturbing to watch persons buy several or more lottery tickets and then watch them get into an old, decrepit car: they’re poor and are gambling addicts.